Filed under: Multimedia, Peripherals Okay, so maybe it’s just a microSD-equipped smartphone’s best friend, but you get the idea. Unlike traditional [insert flash format here]-to-USB adapters, Elan’s Mobidapter provides a direct bridge from your microSD slot to your external USB hard drive.

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint If we were a Palm employee and someone caught us using a Pre in public right about now — being the bumbling, unsuave fools that we are — we imagine the conversation would go something like this: “Excuse me, sir, is that a Palm Pre?” “What, this?

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA When Nokia unveiled its N86 back in February, we Yanks were given no hope whatsoever that a US release was in the cards. We’re doing our best to stifle our excitement, but it sure looks like a stateside launch is a lot closer now that said handset has made its way through the dark and murky halls of the FCC. Seen here in a lovely, washed-out shade of black, the 8 megapixel, OLED-equipped dual-slider seems no different than the one we toyed with in Barcelona, save for the whole US-friendly aspect, of course

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint, EV-DO, CDMA, webOS With just over a fortnight to go before Sprint starts selling Palm’s Pre, it stands to reason that a few of the units have made their way out into the wild. According to Millennial Media, that’s absolutely what has happened, with this month marking the first in which it recorded “initial Palm Pre [ad] impressions.” In other words, those lucky few Pre owners (or “testers,” if you will) are really just goofing off online rather than testing tactility and radiation output

Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android “You know, I could build a better phone than this.” We’ve probably all uttered something to that effect in our past in a fit of frustrated rage — some more than others — but are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? If so, you can now part with some cash and cobble together a bunch of modules to create a do-it-yourself Android phone called FLOW — just be aware that it’s probably not going to solve your troubles

Filed under: Peripherals, HTC Just a note to everyone who carries around a spare smartphone Li-ion in their rear pocket: buy thicker underwear. The scene you see above was all caused by an obviously volatile HTC Touch Pro battery, one that the pants-wearer claims is an authentic HTC cell and not a cheap-o alternative from eBay. As the story goes, a foul odor led him to a laundry pile, where he uncovered eight moist socks, a torched battery and a ruined pair of pants

Filed under: Handsets, LG, Verizon Wireless, CDMA We’ve gotten word that LG’s VX7100 Glance for Verizon should be getting hawked in all channels as of June 5 — ride alongside the enV Touch. Under normal circumstances, we’d say that a midrange LG buried all the way down in the 7000 series wouldn’t have much of a shot at getting any spotlight opposite the much flashier VX11000 launching the same day, but PhoneArena’s got some real pictures of this thing now — and by all accounts, it’s looking a good deal fancier than its price. The braided gold rear probably isn’t for everyone, but it’s a cool alternative to the ubiquitous flips these guys have been launching; we’re hearing that it’ll hit for $50 after a $50 rebate, and it’s definitely not easy to find a phone that looks this flashy at that price level (at least, not without Bedazzling it yourself).

Filed under: Handsets, Features, RIM, Verizon Wireless, GSM, CDMA, BlackBerry OS We’ve been bumping into the new BlackBerry Storm 2 for quite a while now on the so-called “information superhighway,” but we’ve finally had a chance to escalate those encounters and spend a few sweet moments with a live unit in the flesh.

Filed under: ATT There’s a lot of posturing and ego-inflating at the very highest levels of the US’ wireless industry; AT&T had been the biggest provider until Verizon swooped in and bought Alltel, and we imagine that the new number two has been plotting its counterattack ever since.

Filed under: Orange, Accessories You’ve little over a month to get your plans sorted for this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and as any techno-pagan worth his salt knows, finding power for all those gadgets as you dance your ass off in a big field for five days can be a challenge in and of itself. Luckily, it looks like the fine folks at Orange UK have taken it upon themselves to serve this niche market every year, as evidenced by the likes of last year’s Dance Charge and this year’s Power Pump. It’s pretty straight forward — the foot pump drives a turbine, which powers a tiny generator